DECISION ON PLACEMENT OF SEX PREDATOR DELAYED

San Diego 
A judge postponed making a decision Monday on whether to allow a sexually violent predator to live under supervision in the East County community of Jacumba.

After hearing from several members of the community at a public hearing, San Diego Superior Court Judge Howard Shore said he wanted to see the proposed site where Mikel Marshall could be placed. The 14-acre parcel is at 42920 Desert Rose Ranch Road near Old Highway 80.

The judge said he also wanted to hear from state authorities about whether land outside Donovan state prison in Otay Mesa is still a viable option.

“That’s the least I can do before I make a final decision,” Shore said before scheduling a new court date for Jan. 13.

County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who attended the hearing, said she was pleased that Shore had decided to wait.

“I’m impressed with the judge’s consideration of the community’s concerns,” Jacob said outside the courtroom, adding that the laws that allow the release of offenders classified as sexually violent predators is flawed.

Marshall, 39, was convicted of molesting four North County boys in the early 1990s and spent 14 years in prison. After that, he was found through civil proceedings to fit the state’s predator criteria, meaning he had been convicted of a violent sex crime against at least one victim and has been diagnosed with a mental disorder that makes him likely to offend again.

Marshall was committed to Coalinga State Hospital in Fresno County, where he underwent years of treatment.

On Aug. 5, a judge determined that Marshall could be released into the community safely if he continued his treatment on an outpatient basis under heavy supervision. That would include GPS monitoring and polygraph examinations.

Shore said Monday that he viewed Marshall’s case as unusual among other predator cases he’d seen. The judge cited testimony from doctors who called Marshall a “model patient” who appeared to have “genuine feelings of remorse” for what he had done to his victims.

The doctors also testified they believed Marshall was “committed to not have those crimes happen again,” the judge said.

Members of the public who attended the hearing were unconvinced. Some noted that the proposed site overlooks the home of a family with young children and a bus stop where parents drop their children off for school.

Lorrie Ostrander, who has lived in the area since 1985, said San Diego County’s backcountry has become a dumping ground for what the city does not want, including registered sex offenders. She said she was a victim of sexual abuse as a child.

“One does not heal from this type of mentality and they know how to play the system,” said Ostrander, now 64. “They play it well.”

Others talked about the area’s remote location and lack of recreational, employment and treatment resources for Marshall. They said response times for ambulances and law enforcement can reach 15 minutes or longer.

“This man does not belong in our community,” said Danielle Cook, a Jacumba resident. “(He would be) better off in a city environment where he has some recreational opportunities.”

Several speakers pointed out that two men classified as sexually violent predators were allowed to live in a trailer outside the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. The men no longer live on that property.

Alan Stillman, executive director of Liberty Healthcare, the corporation that supervises sex predators for the state, said the site is viewed as inappropriate, in part because of the trailer’s condition.

He also said the location did not allow the offenders adequate integration within the community.